GoKawiilThe one firm deadline we have is about buying a new console. Because of European rules requiring user-replaceable batteries in certain devices, Nintendo will stop supplying original Switch hardware to retailers in its European region in mid-February 2027. The company will keep manufacturing the Switch, Switch Lite and Switch OLED throughout 2026, and expects them to remain "widely available in Europe" during the year. There's no word yet about when the original Switch will stop selling in the US or Japan.
What happens after that is more relevant to existing owners. On Nintendo's Switch support page, the company says people will still be able to use their games and accessories, while its online services will carry on "for the foreseeable future."
There's good reason not to kill the old platform prematurely. Nintendo had sold 156.59 million Switch systems worldwide as of June 30, 2026, putting it ahead of the Nintendo DS and making it Nintendo's best-selling console ever. Even between April and June 2026, when Switch 2 was already firmly established as Nintendo's current system, Nintendo sold another 660,000 original Switch consoles and 33.81 million Switch software units.
Hardware sales are clearly winding down, but software tells a different story. The gap matters because the end of new system sales tells us surprisingly little about when full support for the platform will actually end.